schools nor teachers, and their ministers
were almost wholly illiterate.

At Rock-west I found a very intelligent colored man who had attended
school at Selma, Ala., for a few years. He owned his home and ran a
small grocery. He told of the hardships with which he had to contend in
building up his business, and of the almost hopeless condition of the
Negroes about there. He said that they usually made money each year, but
that they did not know how to keep it. The merchants would induce them
to buy buggies, machines, clocks, etc., but would never encourage them
to buy homes. We were very much pleased with the reception which Mr.
Darrington gave us, and felt very much like putting into practise our
State motto, "Here We Rest," at his home, but our objective point for
the day was Fatama, sixteen miles away.

On our journey that afternoon we saw hundreds of Negro one-room log
cabins. Some of these were located in the dense swamps and some on the
hills, while others were miles away from the public road. Most of these
people had never seen a locomotive. We reached Fatama about seven
o'clock that night, and here for the first time we were compelled to
divide our crowd in order to get a night's lodging. Each of us had to
spend the night in a one-room cabin. It was my privilege to spend the
night with Uncle Jake, a jovial old man, a local celebrity. After
telling him of our weary journey, he immediately made preparation for me
to retire. This was done by cutting off my bed from the remainder of the
cabin by hanging up a sheet on a screen. While somewhat inconvenient, my
rest that night was pleasant, and the next morning found me very much
refreshed and ready for another day's journey. Our company assembled at
Uncle Jake's for breakfast, after which we started for Pineapple.

We found the condition of the Negroes between Fatama and Pineapple much
the same as that of those we had seen the previous day. No schoolhouse
was to be seen, but occasionally we would see a church at the
cross-roads. We reached Pineapple late in the afternoon.

From Pineapple we went to Greenville, and from Greenville to Fort
Deposit, and from Fort Deposit we returned to Snow Hill, after having
traveled a distance of 157 miles and visiting four counties.

In three of these counties there is a colored population of 42,810
between the ages of five and twenty years, and a white population of
7,608 of the same ages. In fact, the Negro school population of